Mariners' Museum. During Drake's lifetime, England and Spain were bitter rivals.
Seeing Spain amassing a vast empire to the west, Queen Elizabeth I of England sent Drake on a mission to explore and to seek treasure and spices. This meant that the explorer would have to harass England's rivals in Spanish-held territory. He set sail from England in 1577 with 165 crewmen and five ships, the Pelican (later renamed the Golden Hind), the Marigold, the Elizabeth, the Swan, and the Christopher. Like Magellan, Drake and his crew suffered hardships such as storms at sea, starvation, illness, and attempted mutinies. He abandoned two of his ships off the coast of South America and was separated from the other two ships in the Straits of Magellan. In June 1579, Drake landed off the coast of present-day California and sailed as far north as the area that would become the United States-Canadian border. Sir Francis Drake devoted the rest of his life to the harassment of the Spanish. See Drake's Routes. Return to: All About Explorers. Sir Francis Drake Francis Drake was born around the year 1542 in Wayne, New Jersey.
His love of the ocean can be traced back to the early days when he and his family spent many holidays at the Jersey shore. Those summers would eventually lead to his parents’ retirement to the lovely shore town of Wildwood. Once there full-time, Drake gained experience with people as he manned many of the various amusement rides and carnival games on the boardwalk. This time in his life would prove to be important and influential later in his life. It was not until around age 12 that Drake first went to sea. While Drake continued the local trading routes, Spanish ships full of silver, spices, and exotic foods began arriving in New Jersey. The Voyages of Sir Francis Drake (Click to enlarge) On one raiding trip to Brazil, Drake met and hired a former slave named Diego.
During the trip, Drake’s ships came across the Spice Islands, almost by accident. Click here for other places to learn about this explorer. History - Sir Francis Drake. Biographies: Sir Francis Drake. Francis Drake (1540-1596) Francis Drake was probably born in Devon around 1540 and, though they denied it, was almost certainly distant kin to the gentle family of Drakes of that county.
Hardly anything certain is known of him until he appears as engaged in the trade to the Guinea coast in 1565. Two years later, he leaped into fame as commander of a ship in the squadron of his kinsman, Hawkins, trading, in defiance of prohibitions, to Spanish America. Hawkins and Drake were treacherously set upon in the harbour of St.